The status quo of modern marketing isn't designed for you and me.The hard truth is that most marketing strategies are designed for massive corporations, while small businesses, consultants, coaches, and other experts are left feeling that the advice they’re given just doesn’t fit—and they’re right. We have two choices: we can struggle to force our businesses into an ill-fitting mold, or we can reinvent a system that works for us and allows us to thrive. I don’t know about you, I prefer door number two. 💌 Reach our team at hello@smco.studio. 🌟 Ready to work together? https://sarahmoon.net/get-started
Rough Draft Thinking 💭
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Hello Reader, You don’t have to get an A+ in marketing. In all the years I’ve done this work, one of the recurring themes (and I’ve certainly been guilty of it as well) is that people believe they need to do everything perfectly. This is especially true when we’ve got a lot of high achievers that are accustomed to excelling at everything they do. This is how that A+ thinking can become a spiral that leads to inaction. Does this sound familiar? "I can’t do SEO if I can't do everything exactly right." "I can’t start a podcast unless I have every episode planned and every guest booked." "I can’t launch that YouTube channel until I’ve hired amazing video editor to make your YouTube videos look like those I see from the fancy influencer channels." The list goes on. People want to have a fabulous marketing funnel. They want to have perfect branding. They wanna have perfect, typo free copy. They want their newsletters to sound like they’re out of the Atlantic. Like I said, I get it. You’re excellent at your work and you want to put the best foot forward. Instead of putting the best foot forward, you put no feet forward. This is why I love the concept of rough draft thinking. A rough draft is actually a decent first version of your work. It's a full concept, even if there are details that need to be ironed out. It has a beginning, middle, and end. That's pretty great! Sometimes I talk about this as minimum viable product, but I think "rough draft" is actually much better phrasing and it beautifully implies iteration and improvement over time. One of the things I've committed to this year is more rough draft thinking so I can get more great ideas (some of my ideas are awesome!) out into the world in their imperfect, drafty state. In marketing, this can look like testing concepts with a friendly audience, like a community or newsletter subscribers. It can mean publishing that blog post that's 600 words and without the beautiful graphics you envisioned. It can mean turning on your webcam and recording your YouTube videos even if you don't have the lighting nailed down. Ready to ditch the A+ mindset and embrace rough draft thinking? In this coming week, pick one marketing project—a small, doable one—you've been putting off and give it the rough draft treatment. Start small, test it out, and see what happens. You might be surprised by the results (and how much less stressful it is!). Talk soon, Sarah
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Hi! I'm Sarah Moon!
The status quo of modern marketing isn't designed for you and me.The hard truth is that most marketing strategies are designed for massive corporations, while small businesses, consultants, coaches, and other experts are left feeling that the advice they’re given just doesn’t fit—and they’re right. We have two choices: we can struggle to force our businesses into an ill-fitting mold, or we can reinvent a system that works for us and allows us to thrive. I don’t know about you, I prefer door number two. 💌 Reach our team at hello@smco.studio. 🌟 Ready to work together? https://sarahmoon.net/get-started
Hello Reader, Over the years, a lot of business owners have "confessed" to me that when they first started their website, they wrote a few blog posts in their excitement about having a a real, legit home online. And then... life lifed and they never kept it up. And... never saw the benefits. This is such a common story and it's one that can feel a bit daunting. If this is you, you may be wondering: Will I look silly if I start blogging again after two, three, five years or more? What do I...
Hello Reader, Sometimes I have to remind myself to take my own advice. This week, I was feeling a bit uninspired with what to write about for my newsletter. August is typically a lower open rate for me, and I know folks are just busy right now—plus I'm just plain worn out after a busy summer! Then I thought to myself, "Sarah, what would you tell a client who had this kind of block?" My answer: "Ask yourself how you can help someone today. Write about that." Which I've probably said more than...
Hi Reader, The pervasive belief that more content is better is enough to make me kick walls (except I would stub my toe and that is the absolute worst). Post more, share more, do more, more, more, more... No one can keep up and goal posts keep getting moved. But this couldn't be further from the truth. Quality, not quantity, is the key to successful marketing. Why is less more? Relevance: High-quality content marketing that directly addresses your audience's needs and pain points is far more...